Factfulness

Reviews / Votes

A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases. -- Barack Obama One of the most important books I've ever read-an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world. -- Bill Gates A powerful antidote to pervasive pessimism and populist untruths. -- Andrew Rawnsley * Observer, Book of the Year * Factfulness ... , a light-hearted but data-rich book, calibrates our view of the world and explains how our cognitive processes can lead us astray -- Steven Pinker * New Statesman, The best books of 2018 * Wonderful... a passionate and erudite message that is all the more moving because it comes from beyond the grave... His knack for presentation and delight in statistics come across on every page. Who else would choose a chart of "guitars per capita" as a proxy for human progress? * Financial Times * An immensely cheering book in these anxious times. -- Christina Hardyment * The Times * An assault both on ignorance and pessimism . . . helping countries improve their governance and public health and opening them up to the rule of law and market exchange works. But not by some sort of magic. Because we act. And to this, as Rosling argues, we first have to understand the world we live in. -- Daniel Finkelstein * The Times * A wonderful guide to an improving world, as well as being a well-stocked source of sound advice as to how to think about factual and statistical claims . . . The book is a pleasure to read - simple, clear, memorable writing - and when you've finished you'll be a lot wiser about the world. You'll also feel rather happier . . . Factfulness - the relaxing peace of mind you get when you have a clearer view of how the world really is . . . I strongly recommend this book. -- Tim Harford We need more of this way of thinking, both in business and politics. Where better to start than a new book by one of Gates' favourite gurus, the late Swedish statistician Hans Rosling . . . in an age of so-called post-truth, this is a celebration of the all too often repudiated but underlying story of relentless human progress. -- Jeremy Warner * Sunday Telegraph * [Bill] Gates had selected the tomes as his favourite summer reads . . . [which included] feel-good non-fiction . . . celebrating technological progress and genius, such as Hans Rosling's Factfulness. -- Gillian Tett * FT Magazine * Hans Rosling tells the story of "the secret silent miracle of human progress" as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see it clearly. -- Melinda Gates Three minutes with Hans Rosling will change your mind about the world. -- Amy Maxmen * Nature * Thoroughly researched and clearly written . . . this is a measured, objective, and ultimately optimistic account of where we are and how we got here. * Independent * Factfulness has the power to shift your entire perspective. If you want to understand the world, read it now! -- Rolf Dobelli Triumphant. * Sunday Times * Bestselling books about statistics are as rare as unicorns. One that gets to No.1 is as rare as a lunar unicorn. Factfulness by Hans Rosling is that moon-based creature . . . engaging. * The Times * Factfulness is a fabulous read, succinct and lively. It asks why so many people - including Nobel laureates and medical researchers - get the numbers so wrong on pressing issues such as poverty, pandemics and climate change... a just tribute to this book and the man would be a global day of celebration for facts about our world. -- Jim O'Neill * Nature * Rosling's final work is about the misconceptions most people hold about the world we live in - it's better than we think - and a plea to think critically. -- Robert Muchamore * Metro * An unexpectedly uplifting read. * Emerald Street * The message is refreshingly clear: when you only hold opinions about things you know the facts about, you can see the world more clearly. * Mr Hyde * I had very high expectations; the book exceeded them. Superb guide to the world and how to be wiser about it. Great storytelling. An inspiration. -- Tim Harford An insistently hopeful, fact-based booster shot for a doomsaying, world-weary population [which] parts the dingy curtains of global pessimism to reveal an alternate and uplifting perspective on the state of world issues today. Co-written with Rosling's son and daughter-in-law, the book effectively educates, uplifts, and reassures readers. . . In compelling readers to comprehend the positive aspects of world changes using practical thinking tools, Rosling delivers a sunny global prognosis with a sigh of relief. - Kirkus [An] accessible, smart-thinking read which reveals the preconceptions that make us misunderstand the way the world works -- Caroline Sanderson * Daily Mirror * [A] smart read -- Books for the Beach * Sunday Express * It was such a hopeful book - it's about why society is better off than we think and how many of the problems we think exist, don't -- Talita von Fuerstenberg * Vogue * I recommend starting 2021 with the late Hans Rosling's book, Factfulness - for incontrovertible evidence of "the secret, silent miracle of human progress." -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *